Theme Of Corruption In The Pardoner's Tale

Another similarity between Smallpox and the black death is that they both advanced important movements. Smallpox is credited with being the cause of the rise of the American abolition movement. White people living in the slave ports feared for their own health, which brought the notion of the movement itself. The Black Death is credited with being the cause of the Reformation. Due to people like William the One-day Priest, the church was thought to be corrupt. This corruption led to people losing faith and believing the church was unimportant, resulting in the Reformation. Both these diseases led caused very important movements to be put into action.

Throughout the journey two tales were told. They held very few similarities, and quite a few differences. These two tales were told by men from two completely different walks of life. One was a noble knight who won battles, put others before himself, and took great pride in his two most impressive horses. The other was a pardoner, who did not believe most of what he taught, conned people for their money, and knew how to put on a show to make the all the poor peasants believe every word he said. Both of their tales were quite interesting, but the knight did in fact tell a better story. The knights story captivated its readers by attaching them to its characters, making every failure, emotion, and success affect the reader personally, and by the end of the tale the reader was able to take away a lesson they would never forget.

During the early sixteenth century the Church began to experience loss of respect and many challenges due to the corruption within the church. Many began to think the church was dying. This would cause the reformation. Throughout the age of reformation, the political and social spheres of Europe were also significantly affected, as well as the religious movement, through Martin Luther, the printing press, and the opinions of the people.

In Europe, there was a lot of religions fighting for the chances of succeeding and having all the power. In most cases, the Catholic Church was indeed incharge. Lutheranism wanted to be the new ones in charge since they believed the Catholics were wrong in their teachings. But, they refused to let go of their powers and dominance of all the citizens in the community. This caused the divisions with European Christians and Lutheranism and Calvinism/Anglicanism. Luther thought the Catholic Church and their popes were out of hand and should not control the people as much as they did. The Church created indulgences for the people involved with the church can use when they sin. Instead of doing penance they would take indulgences and give money to the church instead of praying. The popes and the church does not have the decisions between on who goes to purgatory or not.

“Radix malorum est cupiditas” translated from Latin into “Greed is the root of all evil.” (Chaucer 125) Throughout the Pardoner’s Tale, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, this is the story of three men that treat people lower than them and they end up finding a whole pile of gold, but they end up killing each other to get the gold to themselves. The entirety of the three men end up dead and not even one gets the gold. There are many topics involving greed, this essay will involve what it is about, the dangers, and the benefits of controlling the desire to gain.

In William Manchester’s account of the Middle Ages, A World Lit Only by Fire, he describes many traits that are essential to the medieval mind. Between the decline of classical pagan culture in Western Europe and the rebirth of culture during the Renaissance, the minds of Europeans underwent many changes as they began to stray from Catholicism and divert their attentions to secular affairs under the notions of humanism. Medieval philosophy was heavily influenced by ideas from the classical works of the Greek and Roman worlds. The Middle Ages were a turning point in history that brought major changes to Europe.

Geoffrey Chaucer was an author, known as the father of English poetry for his recognition in all his literary works. He wrote the Canterbury Tales, which are multiple stories composed into one to create a form of poetry. "The Pardoners Tale" is the most recognized work of art he put together out of these multiple stories. The story is told in first person, which makes use of the story to lecture against the individuals who are ignorant, and profane. In this short tale about eagerness, but also death, Chaucer uses three forms of figurative language such as irony, personification, and symbolism to tell a story of three rioters.

The Dark ages describe a period of time which is also called the Middle Ages ranging from approximately 500AD to 1500AD. The Dark Ages were in Europe. The Dark Ages was debatable. There should be a reason for why they were called Dark. So the question is where they really dark?  Some say yes, some no. But I believe that the Dark Ages were maybe so dark.

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had a great amount of power because it was the only one at the time. As expressed in The Canterbury Tales, it even oversaw the court, so one could propose that the Church had exponential power. They seemed to rule the economy and hold a lot of land. Kings and queens were even preceded by the Church. Supposedly, in those times, the Catholic Church was a source of great hypocrisy or a good number of its people were. In The Canterbury Tales, readers met so many religious figures who amount to a pure source of hypocrisy and contradiction such as the Friar, the Pardoner, the Nun, and more. Geoffrey Chaucer, the author, brought a delightful dose of sarcasm in various descriptions of the religious characters

The church was a central factor of the medieval times. “Medieval Christians believed they could only find salvation by following the guidance, laws, and teachings of the church, for according to Catholic beliefs, the church and its clergy had been proclaimed by Christ to be the only intermediary (go-between) between God and human beings”(“The Medieval, Catholic Roots of the Elizabethan World”). In the medieval times, the church overruled the peoples’ lives. Everyone believed that God, Heaven, and Hell existed. Everyone believed that the only way to Heaven was through the church. The church is the only one who could grant them entrance into Heaven. Everyone wanted to go to Heaven and not Hell. However, believing in the church helped the people follow its rules. The rules made it easier for the church to be in charge. This made them believe that if the Roman Catholic church let them go to Heaven, they would go to Heaven. Everyone was petrified of Hell. Since the church ruled over the people, the Church continued to tell them that Hell was terrible. Throughout the medieval times, the Catholic Church was the center of attention. The land was led by the Pope. Knights needed to serve their lord but keep their faith. The knights needed to always speak the truth. They were told to always honor women, which they did especially if she was their love. Since

a.) An allegory is a story which characters, settings, and events stand for moral concepts. Allegories contain meanings that are symbolic and literal. “The Pardoner’s Tale” is an allegory because the 3 rioters believe in death actually behind the tree. Instead, they find coins there which symbolize their greediness. Greed is not a moral decision by any means. The rioters thought that they were going to find what they wanted behind the tree, but their greed ultimately ended all of their selfish lives.

In Chaucer 's the pardoner 's tale you can easily tell the type of greed that is in the story ,which is the greed for money. This is also one of the most ironic tale since the pardoner is the most greediest person amongst the group. The Pardoners tale begins in lines (81 to 85) where three very good friends were drinking at a tavern. Then they left the tavern and while they were walking come across a old man. The man was quite interesting, he lead the trio of friends to a bunch of gold. I personal think that the old man is Death considering that he said if they would find Death under the tree. At first the friends were all going to split the gold but as time went on greed changed them. Once the money was introduced in the story the friends turned on each other.

“The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer, the three rioters originally planned to travel to kill Death. After traveling less than half a mile, The three rioters met a poor, old man; the old man told them where they could find Death. The three rioters followed his directions and found not Death but a pot of gold coins under a tree. After, discovering the gold coins, they secretly plotted to kill each other, hoping to keep the treasure to only himself. Because of this, the role of the gold coins acted as the source and main cause of their death.

If someone has too much power, can that lead to that person becoming corrupt?. During the middle ages the church was corrupt and many church officials abused their power in order to steal money from the peasants. The Pardoner uses his speaking skills and church position to steal money from the poor peasants who don't know any better. Chaucer depicts the corruption among the Clergy during the Middle Ages through the Pardoner's tale. Chaucer also depicts how the Pardoner's appearance is a reflection of him.